Our Family

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

2012-01-20T17:06:00.000-08:00

Every August Thanksgiving Point does $2 Tuesday...I love the gardens there, and so every year we take the kids for a little stroll and photo shoot. This year I got a lot of really good ones...here are a bunch of them...

I love how much these two love each other, I hope they are always best friends.

One of their favorite parts of the gardens is the fish pond, this year we found some frogs too, they loved it.

The fish were very hungry!

I absolutely love these pictures of my beautiful girl...love those blue eyes!

Emma loves to make funny faces and be silly.

My sweet little boy...he always makes me smile, even when he's in trouble!

LOVE THIS!!!!

Can't wait until August and we can go again.

Emma's Birthday

2012-01-20T16:22:00.000-08:00

Emma turned 5 in July, here are some pics from her party. She wanted a Tangled party. We played pin the frying pan on Flynn Rider

We made sandy candy

and a pascal.

and Candy necklaces

We opened presents

Blew out candles and ate birthday cake

Emma had a great birthday, besides these fun party activities we had a treasure hunt...we had to do it quick because it started raining. I had bought some really cool floating lanterns online to send off at the end of the party, but the rain and wind made that impossible. Emma had so much fun with all her friends, and it was fun to see them all interact with each other.

Trip to St. George

2011-12-13T18:10:00.001-08:00

In July we took a little road trip to St. George with Mandy's parents, sister, and Aunt and Uncle and cousins. We went to Tuacahn to see the Little Mermaid(if you've never been to Tuacahn you should go). We had a lot of fun just relaxing and playing. The kids LOVED the pool, once they got used to it.

We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and the kids got to sit on the Birthday horse.

We had so much fun, we are hoping to go again next year to see another play and have more fun.

Emma's First Soccer Game

2011-11-18T07:40:00.000-08:00

This summer we got Emma signed up for soccer. She was so excited. These are pictures from her first and second games.

She loved being a goalie

The coach asked her to help defend the goal, this is what she did

James was a little sad that he didn't get to play, but he was a good sport and sat on the sideline and cheered for Emma.

Going for a ride

2011-11-01T15:42:00.001-07:00

We took the kids to Pioneer Days in Lehi. We went to the parade, and then took them to their family fair. They got to ride the ponies a couple of times.

They had a blast riding. James thought it was great.

Emma rode a pony the first time around, but the second time she said that because she was a big girl, she needed to ride a big horse. She was so excited to ride a big horse.

Here they are anxiously awaiting the ride on the horse.

random pics

2011-09-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

James just loves his buzz hat

Emma helped me make these lemonade cupcakes

And then she helped eat them

Geoff's cousin Kim came for a visit so we had a little dinner with the family. Do you know how hard it is to get 6 little ones to hold still? it was practically impossible! Emma loved baby Lucas

James really liked helping out too. It was fun to see how gentle they both were with him and how sweet Emma was.

This is a cake I made for a 60th wedding anniversary

The Dirty Dash

2011-08-25T09:27:00.000-07:00

We ran the Dirty Dash in June...this was my incentive for finishing my first Half Marathon. Geoff said he would run a 5k with me. I picked this one, Geoff hates running, and I thought the 5k obstacle course through the mud would be more fun for him. Curtis, Nicole and Alicia joined our team "Evergreen Chiropractic--not afraid to get our hands dirty" We couldn't come up with a more creative name, but next year we will be creative and have costumes to make the even more fun. I will warn you in the next few pictures you can see that we had a little too much fun with the mud, if you don't want to see them...scroll down to the end.

Yep, a little too much fun! Apparently we get a little crazy when there is this much mud around!

Before all the fun in the mud started. We decided we needed a before the race picture.

This is towards the end of the race, you can't see it well, be we were getting pretty dirty. and having a really good time.

This is after swimming through the pool of mud(so much fun!)

The race started with the climb up a very muddy slope! It was actually pretty hard, our shoes were sticking in the mud, Geoff ended up taking off his shoes and running barefoot for the rest of the race.

Here we are in all our muddy glory.

I love this picture...Benjamin really doesn't like to be dirty.

Getting ready to cross the finish line

You might ask how we got all the mud off...well, Curtis was kind enough to run back to the car and pay for the girls to take warm showers...the cold ones were not going to cut it. These were outdoor showers, so we basically got to rinse off. Once we got home, it took 4 more showers to get clean...I had to wash my hair 8 times to get the mud out! We all will admit we found mud in random places...like our ears, for about a week! We had a blast with this run...and can't wait to run it again next year. Emma and James are going to participate in the "piglet plunge" next time.

Lagoon Fun

2011-08-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

Over Memorial Day weekend we went to Lagoon. The kids of course had a blast.

They rode horses

And helicopters

Made silly faces

Dropped from a Dinosaur Egg

Went swimming with a whale

And got their drivers license.

We had a blast even in the rain!

Field day and a ride on Thomas

2011-08-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

I know I keep saying I will get this blog caught up, but we have been having a lot of fun this summer, and we have also been very busy at the office. (this is a wonderful thing).

In May we went to ride Thomas the Train, if you don't know who that is you probably don't have little boys. James loves Thomas! He was so excited to see him and ride a train. They had a other little activities for the kids to do, they got Thomas temporary tattoo's, they had story time, and color time, and they got their picture taken with Sir Topham Hat, or as James calls him "hat".

They also got to ride in a little motor car(not sure what happened to those pictures).

This is from Emma's field day at preschool. It was cute to see her little pigtails bouncing around.

It was also hilarious to see them play tug-o-war. James wanted to get in on the action too, he wasn't quite sure what to do.

Another picture on the train.

It was fun to see the kids do the potato sack race...James tried really hard to figure it out.

Our Little Graduate

2011-07-27T16:41:00.000-07:00

Emma's preschool graduation was a lot of fun. They put on a whole program first, and then took an "intermission" to get their little caps on. It was so cute to see them all walk in with their caps on. She has made some great little friends.

Emma loves to sing out! After talking to Emma's teacher, Miss Wendi, we discovered that Emma has some little boys that REALLY like her..uh-oh! Brock, in the green shirt, talks about her at home constantly, and Jayden, directly behind her, sent her home with his phone number. She went and played at Jayden's house one day, she came home with a flower. Another boy, Aiden, brought her chocolate one day. I think we might be in a little bit of trouble!

We are so glad that we send Emma to this preschool, it has been a great thing for her. She has learned so much. She is starting to read a little and can do some simple math problems. I am in shock at how smart she is. She loved her teachers and friends from school. She cried the last day of school because she wanted to just stay and play with her friends and teacher all day. She was really disappointed that they won't be at her "big" school next year.

Race Day

2011-07-27T12:49:00.000-07:00

After the Hobble Creek half last year I told everyone that I would never do another half marathon, but a few weeks after I decided I wanted to do another one. I knew I could do better than what I had done. I started doing some research and decided to sign up for the Thanksgiving Point half, I spoke with the coordinator several time to try to make sure that it would be more put together than Hobble Creek. It was a much better race. I wanted something that wouldn't be in the middle of the crazy Utah heat, and I thought something in spring would be nice. On the morning of the race I woke up at 5 am to find several inches of snow on the porch. I almost went back to bed! The race was cold at the beginning and I wore several layers to stay warm. the first 2 miles it was snowing pretty hard, and I kept thinking to myself that I must be crazy! once I hit mile 3 I started to warm up and started loosing all the layers. It turned out to be a nice day. I finished in 3 hours, not sure about the seconds. I wanted to take more off of my time for the first one, but Geoff and my good friends reminded me that this is actually a much tougher course because it is uphill, so I can't get a good comparison. I enjoyed this race, it was well organized, there were lots of supportive volunteers. Nicole and Curtis, and of course Geoff, came to support me at the end, it was good to have friends there. I have decided to keep up with this running thing. I am registered for the Brown Dirt Relay at the end of the month. I am hoping to register for the Halloween half too. Geoff and I did a very fun race together in June, and I will post some pictures of that later.

A perk of doing this race was that we got some wristbands to get us into all the fun things at Thanksgiving Point for free. We took the opportunity to take the kids to the dinosaur museum, they had a blast.

We even got to do some digging of our own.

Family pictures

2011-07-11T08:19:00.000-07:00

Easter fun

2011-06-30T19:55:00.001-07:00

I am determined to get everything caught up soon, and since I have to edit pictures for Emma's birthday video, I figured I might as well post them at the same time. The kids had a fun easter.

I always forget that we really don't need to hide a million eggs, their baskets were full, but they had a great time finding them all. Emma actually started making us do hunts the rest of Easter Day and into the following week. We finally had to put everything away so she would stop making us look for eggs every hour.

After picking up a few eggs, James discovered that there was candy inside...he was pretty excited about it.

I was pretty excited for this book for James, he loves anything that has to do with cars and trains.

Emma loved decorating eggs...this is one that she drew a "human" on.

Once James saw Emma coloring on the eggs he had to get in on the action too...his were all little scribbles, but he thought it was great.

James had a hard time understanding that we couldn't just throw the egg into the color...we had a few broken eggs, oh well.

Another creation with mommy's help.

Emma was so excited to decorate eggs, she loves everything that has anything to do with art, she is constantly telling us that she's an artist.

It wouldn't be a family activity without James playing with cars :)

this has nothing to do with Easter, it is a cake I made for a sweet 16 birthday party. I was pretty excited about how it turned out.

Midway Ice Castles

2011-06-29T13:41:00.000-07:00

We didn't get to do a lot of winter activities this year, just because of a lack of time. But this was one I really wanted to do, we woke up on Saturday morning and decided that we would take a little road trip to Midway for some winter fun, and I'm so glad we did. We had a blast walking around the whole thing.

Emma is starting to enjoy taking pictures herself, I think she's doing a pretty good job for a 4 year old.

Here she is taking a picture

She started to get pretty silly while we were taking pictures.

James thought it was great to just run around and play.

Emma and her silly poses, there were so many, I had a hard time trying to decide what ones to post.

James must have spotted a plane or something. Notice how big his gloves are? we couldn't find any gloves for him this year, but when Grandma and Grandpa Moultrie came to visit they found these...they'll fit him for years!(thanks Grandma and Grandpa, James' hands stayed warm the whole time)

I love this picture.

This is coming out of one of the tunnels that was built...the kids thought the tunnels were pretty awesome. We picked a good day to go, on warmer days they would close the tunnels due to melting, luckily they weren't closed.

As you can see we had a blast. Hopefully this will go on every year, I think it should be a family tradition. The kids had a blast, and Geoff and I were amazed at how this guy built this...he lived a few blocks from us a few years ago and he had a small one in his yard, but this one is crazy. After the Ice Castles we made a stop at Dairy Keen(the train restaurant) for some yummy food.

Penguin day at the aquarium

2011-05-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

In January the Living Planet Aquarium had Penguin Day, which meant if you dressed in black and white, you got in free...the aquarium closed before Geoff got off of work, so I invited my cousin Katy to come along and help me with the kids.
Emma insisted on bringing her baby with us, and that I take the baby's picture.

Emma's ready to drive the boat Grandpa!

James loved all of the fish...he got excited at each exhibit

Emma had just learned about the Octopus at preschool, so she was pretty excited to see one up close...she kept telling me that they had 8 tentacles(not legs).

James was super excited to put his hands in the water to feel the fish...Emma was not about to feel anything!

The kids got to see how they measured up to different types of penguins...they thought that was pretty cool.

This has nothing to do with the aquarium, just some funny pictures I found...they like to do each others hair...mostly James' hair. James sprays himself with the squirt bottle and Emma combs.

Who likes Cake?

2011-05-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

I was asked to make a cake for my cousin's little girls birthday. Emma of course thinks she should help, so I made her a few little heart shaped cakes of her own...she had a blast helping me.

She believes you can never have too much frosting or sprinkles, the more the better!

She has really wanted to try out my piping bags. I made a big batch of frosting and let her pick a few colors to use.

The finished product...she used all of my leftovers for the cake that I did.

A little pose with her beautiful creations

and a pose with my creation

This is my final product...I was pretty proud of it.

Christmas(i know, super late!)

2011-05-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

Our Christmas was pretty fantastic. We made a couple of gingerbread things with some friends...they had a hard time on the car ride home...the kids still loved them.
This isn't in order, after Christmas we went up to Hardware Ranch in Logan. The kids had a blast going out into the elk reserve. They thought it was great to take the sleigh ride too. We had to wait a long time, but once it was our turn they forgot they were cold.

Emma got a box of dress ups for Christmas, she was so excited to get them.

James got a bunch of Thomas trains...he still tries to carry them all around at once. He also got this bomber jacket, he looks so handsome in it.

Emma really wanted a Doll house for Christmas...I thought that would be a great gift...little did I know, doll houses are not cheap! After a little looking, Santa's elves found an old one that could be refurbished. it was a lot of work, but she loved it.

James wasn't super happy on Christmas morning, until he got some crackers, as long as he had some in his hands, or close by, it was happy. Funny kid!

Sorry that I am so far behind, we have been really busy recently, but I will try to get some pics edited and up soon.

11 Years Ago...Yesterday

2011-04-23T09:44:00.000-07:00

In all the hustle and bustle of my sisters law school graduation yesterday, I didn't get a chace to do this. 11 Years ago yesterday Geoff and I entered the temple together a little bit later we walked out married, not just married, but sealed for time and all eternity. This I am so grateful for.
As you can see, a lot has changed in the past 11 years. We've had ups and downs...school, graduations, moving, starting a business, vacations, fertility problems, good friends, but through it all we've always had each other. We keep each other grounded, we lift each other up(although Geoff does most of the lifting :P)

The thing that has changed the most is these two little monkeys. We love having our family, and we love knowing that we are a family forever.

Thanks to my wonderful husband, you have made these last 11 years so great. I am looking forward to forever with you.

Snow Fun

2011-03-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

We really only got to play in the snow once this winter, the snow didn't seem to last long when we got a lot, and it always seemed to snow on a day we didn't have time to go out and play, or when it was too late to go play.
Emma was so excited to play in the snow, but James wasn't so sure at first. He hated wearing is big puffy coat, so any time we had to put it on him it was a two man job. I'm still not sure how I did it with just me.
He was excited to wear his "Cars" snow boots.
The snow was so deep James needed a little help moving around...he still wasn't sure about the snow, until I taught him to throw a snow ball...then he was super happy, good thing we don't live in Provo(it's illegal to throw snowballs).

James picked up this snowball and just put it on my pants...he was pretty funny about it.
Emma thought throwing snowballs was pretty great too.

Emma really wanted to make a snowman...but my snowman skills are not all that awesome, especially if you compare them to Daddy's, so instead she made snow angels.

The kids also thought it was cool to eat the snow.

I thought I would take a minute to update you on what the kids are up to now.

Emma is doing great in preschool, she is starting to read, she sat at the kitchen table and read me one of the books she made at preschool...I was so proud. She is growing tall all the sudden, I measured her the other day and was amazed at how much she has grown. She will start Kindergarten later this year and is so excited. She has been making lots of new friends and having more and more playdates. I love that she gets along with other kids so well.

James is also doing great, he is growing too...especially his feet! He loves to play with everything, but is favorites are still his trains and cars. He follows Emma everywhere and does what she does, if she is pretending to cook, then he pretends to cook too. He likes to "help" a lot. He is learning his letters and know the letter O very well, he is working on E and S now.

We are looking forward to spring and summer and the fun we have planned.

A quick post about Thanksgiving

2011-03-21T19:37:00.000-07:00

I know this is way out of order, but I forgot about these pictures and just found them tonight. This is a quick post, but I will try to get some more editing done and get another post up soon.

James really enjoyed his Thanksgiving dinner, especially the chocolate pie.

Emma learned about the Indians and Pilgrims at preschool, she came home with this cute little bonnet one day...she was so very proud of it.

Our handsome little stud!

This is from the day they learned about the Indians, Emma was so excited to have a drum...she thought it was so neat, and she was even nice enough to let James have a try. I think little James feels left our from time to time because Emma brings home such fun stuff from preschool. He often cries when we drop her off, it's sweet that they love each other as much as they do...hopefully that won't change when they get older.

A Little More Christmas Fun

2011-03-13T19:40:00.000-07:00

Our ward (Church) Christmas party did the "Bethlehem Express" it was a spin on the movie polar express. When we got there they had some live sheep for the kids to take pictures with. James wasn't so sure...but Emma warmed up fast enough.
We had some friends come with us to the Alumni House at UVU to take some pictures of our families. It was a great place to get some fun pictures. Hopefully we will be able to go back soon to take some spring pictures.

Santa came to visit our office for our Patient Appreciation Day, it was a big hit with all the kids and we had a great turn out(for those of you that came and read my blog, if you didn't get your pictures please let me know, my computer was having problems and I have no idea who got them and who didn't)
Emma's preschool put on a fun Christmas program, Emma did such a great job singing all the songs. It was fun to see all the fun songs that they have learned and to see her interact with her preschool friends.

Emma sat by her friend Jenny for the program.
For some reason Emma thought that her elf hat should stand straight up, I tried to get her to fix it, but that's the way she wanted it...she definitely has her own style right now.
I LOVED the rudolf noses...the kids were so cute with them on.

Emma was so excited for her program, she was so happy to have so many people from our family come.

This is part of the church party. Geoff was asked to be a shepherd in the "play" that they did. He didn't realize he would be the main shepherd and have lots of speaking parts, so he wasn't too thrilled by the end...but we think he did a great job. It took the kids a few minutes to figure out it was Daddy, it was cute once they did.

Another sheep picture. They took a family picture in front of the train that they made, but I haven't gotten it yet...I just thought about it the other day, I will have to ask about it.

There will be more Christmas coming soon...

A peak of Christmas

2011-03-08T11:48:00.000-08:00

I know I am way behind...what can I say, we are busy bee's.
The kids had a fun Christmas and I will try to get more up soon. Here is just a little peak of our fun. They love to help decorate. My mom let them help decorate her tree, and they thought it was great.

Emma loves to help, with whatever she can, and her helping has actually started to turn into more help than trouble. She especially loves to decorate.

James still thought that the best thing to do with the balls were to throw them, of course he would, he's a boy. He also thought it was better to remove the ornament that had just been put up.

A little catching up to do...

2011-01-23T16:29:00.000-08:00

I know...I'm really behind. I have decided to just get caught up before I do any more of Disneyland(if I ever get time).

At the end of October we celebrated James' 2nd birthday--that's right, terrible 2's!
Since cars is his most favorite thing in the whole world(including mommy and daddy), we decided it should be "Cars" themed. This is the cake I came up with, he loved it.

Every time I make a cake Emma thinks she needs to help. So to keep her from "helping" with my cake a usually make a little something for her to help with. This is her creation...isn't it beautiful.

She was quite proud of it, and yes...it could put someone into a diabetic coma with just one bite!

James loved opening his presents. He got spoiled by our family and friends as usual.

James really liked it when we sang Happy Birthday to him.

After all the fun was over the kids couldn't wait to play with the new toys...the little boy there is Benjamin...one of our best friends.

I'm sad to say that I think this is all the Halloween pictures I got...kinda sad. I just get so caught up in the fun that sometimes I forget to take more pictures. Emma's preschool had a little program and parade for us. she was so excited. Ever since last year(2009) Emma had decided to be Glenda, the good witch...I thought for sure she would change her mind, but she stuck to it, which means next year I think she wants to be Strawberry Shortcake.

This is Emma's class after the program.

James was originally going to be a munchkin, but right before Halloween I got pneumonia, and really didn't feel up to putting together a munchkin costume...so he was Woody instead.
Halloween was very cold and rainy, but the kids still had a blast trick or treating. This was James' first year that he really understood it...he was very excited, but not too happy that he didn't get to eat all the candy right then.

Trip to Cali Part 3: random

2010-12-13T12:28:00.000-08:00

You are all probably getting very sick of Disneyland pictures, but we are almost done.
James thought it would be more helpful to help push the stroller then ride in it. I think by the end of the trip he just wanted to run around.

This was at Mickey's Halloween party. We had a lot of fun that night, even though the kids were asleep for the majority of if. We tried to keep them awake, but they were so worn out. We did lots of trick or treating and got lots of candy. It was fun to see all the characters out.

All ready to go trick or treating.

Nobody is home at White Rabbits house

As soon as James saw Mickey he went straight for a hug. I thought it was pretty sweet

Getting ready for another fun-filled day.

This is how we brought the kids back every evening...we felt like that too.

Watch out everyone, she is driving. It was a very bumpy ride.

James loved all the rides. It was so much fun to watch him get excited about every little thing

James at the end of the day

We saw Tiana a few times. Emma was so excited to see her. This is her friend Benjamin, he joined us for a few days. It was really fun to have some friends with us too.

It rained...it actually poured! The first couple of days were very wet...we all had to get ponchos to stay dry. Emma and James weren't very fond of their ponchos. We were very happy when the rain stopped and the sun came out to play.

James loves Cars, he was very excited to see Lightning and Mater.

Trip to Cali part 2: The character breakfast

2010-11-23T20:45:00.000-08:00

Ihave been reminded by a few(my mom and sister), that I have not finished updating the California trip. (I have to say I think it's kind of funny they want to see it updated, they were with us). These pictures were at the character breakfast in Minnie's Kitchen. I wasn't sure it would be worth it since last time we went we didn't feel like the characters spent all that much time with us, but this time it was well worth it.

Captain Hook spent the most time at our table. Here he is with Emma, she got a kick out of him sitting down in Aunt Emily's chair and pretending to eat her food.

The whole fam with Minnie and Dale

James was intrigued with the characters

Tigger came and played peek-a-boo with the kids, they thought it was great. I wish I had a camera on the other side to show their faces because they were laughing so hard at him.

We did the limbo with Captain Hook, and yes...James took his food with him wherever we went. He ate like crazy at the breakfast. Poor kid had been sick the first part of the trip, I think he was finally feeling better.

Captain Hook getting Grandma and James with his hook.

More with Emma. She just loved having his attention.

The Fairy Godmother really liked James because when she came to see us he was cleaning up his spilled milk. She thought it was great to see him cleaning up(I like that he does that too). James wasn't quite sure what to think of her at first.

Emma was so excited to see all the characters and get their autographs. I was really hoping she would not notice the other kids with autograph books, but she did. She thought it was great to get them. She did tell me the other day that she needed more autograph's in her book because it still had blank pages...guess we'll just have to go back!

James liked to give them kisses on their noses.

Emma was so excited to see Cinderella at The Princess Fantasy Faire. She told me while we were in line that she really wanted to get her autograph. I will have more on the fantasy faire, trick or treating and all the other Disneyland fun another day.

Trip to Cali part 1: Sea World and La Jolla

2010-10-12T21:52:00.000-07:00

When I say part 1 I mean I have TONS of pictures, so there will be a few parts. I thought I would start with the beginning of the trip. We got to LA on Saturday, and drove to San Diego...we got a free upgrade for a mini van...I was very excited(for those that know me well, right now, that's my dream car!). They let us pick whatever we wanted...we ended up picking a Chrysler Town and Country, it was very nice and it had all the upgrades...it was great to have...wish I could have kept it. We drove straight to Sea World. Hear are the kids with my parents. I love James in this picture...he makes some of the funniest faces in pictures...Geoff said this one looks like he's saying "i'm just hear for the food" which is true for the end of the trip.
They let us touch the star fish...but the kids really weren't interested in that...kind of freaked them out, plus the water was ice cold.

Emma, Grandma and Emily on the Abby Cadabby ride.

James loved the Abby Cadabby ride. He was laughing and having so much fun. He loves rides.

Getting ready for the Clyde and Seymore show.

Shamu...The kids thought Shamu was great. They each got a Shamu stuffed animal.

James was very interested in all the animals...he thought it was great to watch them swim and play.

We had a lot of fun at sea world. We were there for 2 days. It rained the whole time, but the kids loved the animal. We got to fead the seals and sea lions...Emma wasn't so sure about holding the dead fish to feed them, and a bird got one of her fish.

Our polar bear family. Emma wasn't so sure about being in the caves.

James clapping for the band playing at the restaurant. The kids thought it was great that they came to our table and played for us.

On Sunday we went to La Jolla and played on the beach. We hiked down to the La Jolla cave with the kids. The tide was coming in so we got a little wet. Emma was a little nervous about walking down into the dark tunnel, and she really didn't want to get wet. James really liked watching the water splash onto the rocks.

The whole family in the cave

Feeding the ducks at Sea World. Emma loves to feed the animals like this.

James on the Abby Cadabby ride...he was so fun to watch.

We walked out onto the jetty a little bit...they wouldn't let us go all the way out since the tide was coming in. The kids had fun watching the seals up close.

The is by the Point Loma Lighthouse. Emma's photography skills keep getting better.

As you can see Emma still likes to make silly faces...

James and Aunt Emily playing

Emma was so excited to see the characters from Sesame Street...James wasn't sure what to think about the whole thing at first, but he warmed up.

We had a lot of fun. The first part of our trip was a little rough because James got sick before we left and was sick the first couple days, and then Emma got it. But we managed to have a great time. More pictures will follow of our days in Disneyland.

Fun Times in Washington

2010-09-30T16:40:00.000-07:00

James at Multnomah Falls. He was so happy to be out of the car.

This is actually the night we got home. We went to the KC and the Sunshine Band concert on Labor Day. We had fun, but it got really cold, and a little boy(who will go unnamed) spilled pink lemonade all over one of the blankets. We cuddled up close for a little bit, but the kids were pretty cold, and Emma didn't like the female dancers and she asked to leave. So we went home. It was fun while we were there.

On our drive home we made a quick stop at Multnomah Falls. Emma was kind of grumpy and didn't want her picture taken, Geoff snuck a few while she wasn't paying attention.

Emma did want to take pictures of us though(her new hobby is to grab a camera and start shooting), she did a pretty good job with this one of us.

Emma and James love to play duck-duck-goose. They played it for awhile at Geoff's parents house. We got a kick out of watching them take turns.

Geoff's parents and the kids in Long Beach

James in the giant frying pan

I love this picture of James playing in the sand. He wasn't sure about the sand and water at first, but he loved it once he got going.

We were really lucky and it was a pretty decent day at the beach. The kids played for a long time. I don't think I've ever had such a nice day at a Washington beach before, it usually rains.

Emma was determined to make a sand castle...as you can see, my castle building skills need a little work...but she was still happy. Grandma later helped Emma decorate it with sea shells and bird feathers...I thought I got a picture of it, but i can't find it, so I must not have.

Emma also really wanted to fly a kite...but once Geoff got it going she was ready to move on to the sand castles...but James had fun with it.

There were some giant seaweed the first day we were there. Geoff picked one up and started playing with and James found one of his own to play with. It was pretty heavy, but James got it figured out. My camera battery died so unfortunately I didn't get too many good pictures of this...he really had a blast with it.

Emma picked up a lot of sea shells the first day. she thought that was pretty neat.

James just liked to pick up the sand

We took the kids to the Chinese Gardens one of the first day. Emma had fun with a map they gave her. It had different things on it that she was supposed to find, like a little treasure hunt. She found most of it on her own. This is one of the things she had to find, and as you can see, she had to make some funny faces.

James having a melt down on the way there...he did such a good job until about the last hour of our 13 hour drive.

Lunch at Dairy Queen came with ice cream of course.

This has nothing to do with our trip, but I just wanted to get it up before I forgot. I made this cake for a princess tiana birthday party. It's the first "barbie" cake I've made.

Our trip to Washington was a lot of fun. The kids loved playing with their cousins...and their cousins were so good to them while we were there. It was great to see our family and a few friends(sorry to those we missed). We were so happy that we got to go have fun for the last little bit of summer. Wish we could see Geoff's family more often (hint, hint--come visit).

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

2010-09-15T12:19:00.000-07:00

Every August Thanksgiving point does $2 tuesdays...which means that we get into the gardens for super cheap. I like to take the kids every year and do my own little photo shoot. We had a rough start getting them to cooperate, and I don't think that James ever really did, but I was lucky to get some good pictures. This is a long post, but well worth it, all the pictures turned out great, and this isn't even half of them.
James loves to run, everywhere!
Emma is actually getting fairly good at posing, although some of them are silly. I love when she gets silly like that, it's fun to watch her little sense of humor and see her funny faces.

James likes to make funny faces too.

I love this picture! James loves his daddy so much and they have a pretty good relationship. He is always asking me where's dad? I'm just not as much fun.

They had a lot of fun with the fish. I don't remember the fish from the last time we went, but there were tons of them! luckily I had a few quarters so I could buy some food to feed them. They thought it was great.

This is one of my favorites. Emma and James love each other so much. They play pretty well together too. James is always sad when we drop Emma off at preschool, and very excited when we pick her up. Emma misses James while he's asleep and often asks when he is going to wake up.

One of her silly poses.
James wasn't trying but he was doing a pretty good job at posing too...not sure what this one is about, but I love it.

He's trying to learn to jump. My fear is that when he really learns how we will be spending a lot more time at the pediatricians office for broken bones and stitches. The kid has no fear! The pediatrician did tell me at one of our last appointments that he see's stitches in my future...so do I! but I guess that's what you get with little boys.

The kids have been having so much fun. Emma has started preschool again and she is loving it. Her teacher is Miss Wendi, and I think Emma really likes her. She is learning her numbers right now and she is doing great with them. She has also been coloring like crazy, her pictures are looking more like pictures than just blobs of color. She can write her name, but insists that there are 2 a's a little a and a big a. I also taught her to write mom...we are still working on dad.

James is starting to say more and more words. He is very energetic, he loves to climb and make lots of messes...I thinks he makes them just because he can...oh well, he keeps me busy!

We have just a couple more weeks till our long awaited trip to disneyland! we have been planning this trip for over a year and we are very excited for it. It might be extra fun because some really good friends of ours(curtis, nicole and benjamin) might be going at the same time, the kids would absolutely love to have their best friend there. We can't wait for a fun trip.

Fun at home, fish lake, the splash pad and Mommy's big day

2010-08-26T14:03:00.000-07:00

Kids relaxing at home...I had to take this pic because as soon as James saw that emma was laying down he had to do it too. He loves to do what she is doing.

Emma's preschool got to be part of the Lindon Days Parade...she was so excited, but I think she was pretty bored by the end of the parade.

Highland now has a splash pad. It's totally free and a lot of fun. We went one day with Benjamin and Nicole. This was at the end.

They had so much fun playing. I think it will be more fun now that all the big kids are in school, hopefully we can go a couple more times before it gets cold.

The kids loved to climb on the rocks, that wasn't my favorite part, just because they had sharp edges, I imagine some kid will crack his head open there at some point.

This was at Big Rock Candy Mountain

I think I already did a post about Fish lake, but here are some more pictures. When we left we decided to take a detour and go to Junction, Utah to relive some of my fondest childhood memories.

My Great Grandmother lived in Junction. It is a VERY small town, but so fun to visit. We always loved going and went a lot. This is at the park that we would go play at when we were there. This toy wasn't there, but the kids loved it.

The kids all thought it was pretty cool that Daddy climbed up to the top. We didn't spend too much time at the park, as you can see by the clouds a storm was coming right for us.

This toy was in Junction when I was a kid, and I know I played on it. It was kind of fun to share it with the kids.

This is where my Grandma's house once stood. There isn't really anything left, other than a few bricks from her fireplace. Makes me sad that it is all gone, it was a really cool place to visit. I remember tying quilts with my grandma and her letting me help her with the sewing machine. I loved this place...and I always will.

Nicole and Benjamin on the turny-thing with us. We had a great time while daddy pushed us.

The BIG Race! This was of course at the end. I took a little breather while Geoff went and helped with someone that was having a medical problem.

Not sure what James was telling me, but he had quite the story to tell.

Emma kept me going at the very end by running up to me and running with me. She thought it was great. The race was a little bit harder than I expected, and I got sick part way through, which of course slowed me down. At the end I informed Nicole, who ran with me, that this was my last half marathon, but I have changed my mind and will be running another one this spring. I was really happy to have finished, and I was very grateful to have a whole group of cheerleaders at the end to help me keep going.

My final time was 3 hours and 3 minutes, and some seconds, I can't remember. Yes I was very slow, but I finished, I ran all but about 1 1/2 miles of it too.

Me and James in the backyard getting ready for some smores.

More of the parade

This was James at the parade. My mom took him so that I could walk with Emma. Aunt Anita and Katy came too.

Sorry these aren't really in order. This was at the end with Nicole and Curtis. We had fun running together. I was glad to have them with me. They finished a lot earlier than I did. But waited at the end for me. I'm so glad Geoff and I can call these two friends, because they are GREAT ones.

Almost to the finish line(running on grass is NOT fun).

Nicole and Curtis near the end. They did awesome.

We are having a great summer, I'm kind of sad to see it end. But I'm really excited for fall. We have a lot of fun planned. I have more summer pictures that I will get up soon.

more fun times

2010-08-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

I know there are a LOT of pictures in this post...but I just want to get caught up...so here we go, in no particular order.

These are from my birthday. My parents took us all to Tucano's(one of my favorites) to celebrate. We had a lot of fun. The kids had never been there before, they loved it. Emma ate and ate, I don't think I've ever seen her eat so much.

Emma is still practicing her picture taking skills, but this one is pretty good.
Geoff let the waitress know pretty early on that it was my birthday...which meant embarassing singing...including me having my own part in the whole ordeal. After the song and embarassment was over, they took what I thought was my ice cream sundae away and gave it to someone else. If I'm going to be embarassed ice cream needs to be involved. After some more eating the waitress came and asked if I wanted a birthday sundae...if you know me, you know that's a stupid question.
From this picture you can see that Emma has discovered Silly Bandz. She loved all the food. She also insisted that she use the tongs they give us to grab the meat from them as her fork.
tong lickin' good

This was a few months ago, but I just saw it, and I thought it was super cute of my little James, so I had to share.

This is a cake I made for a birthday party for another little girl. It had some small problems...I did it in kind of a hurry.
Aunt Anita gave Emma a cute little apron for her birthday, Emma loves to weat it every chance she gets.
This time it was to decorate a cake of her own...looks yummy doesn't it.
She had so much fun decorating this, and I think for a 4 year old she did a pretty decent job.

James likes to get into EVERYTHING!!!
Turning 4 meant that Emma has developed her own style. headbands that don't match, and lots and lots of jewelry are part of this style.
Emma and I on the ferris wheel at the carnival...waiting for it to load.
James and Daddy waiting for us on the Ferris Wheel. James was going to ride with Daddy, but they said that he's too small. not really sure what that's about...but whatever.
James loves to be up on Daddy's shoulders

Emma found one of our neighbors at the carnival, so they went on a ride together. They had a lot of fun. Emma loves friends.

This is at our friends cabin in Fish Lake. We went there for a weekend, we totally wore the kids out, if you can't tell.
James loved to throw rocks in the lake.
Emma thought it was pretty cool to fish...and I thought it was great that we didn't catch anything...that meant I didn't have to do anything with it.

James was very sad when we had to leave the lake, but it had started to get cold and then it started to rain. So we went back to the cabin and played.

Watching some fireworks on the 24th.
Last year Emma wasn't so sure about sparklers, but this year she thought they were great.
so did james.

The kids had popsicles while they were watching the fireworks, they thought it was pretty great.
The kids were very excited about having corn on the cob.
This is just about the only vegetable I can get James to eat...so I had to have proof

This was at the Steele Days Parade...which was super long, and we left early.
But the kids loved it while we were there.
This was at the Steele Days 5k, I took 2 1/2 minutes off my time, I was pretty happy about that. It has probably been my favorite 5k so far.

For the 4th of July we always have a family party. The kids love the stomp rockets, James and Geoff got a little time to do it on their own.

Emma loved playing blongo ball...I think that's what it's called. She had fun with all of her cousins.

Jenna and Emma became little buds the whole day...it was cute. She took great care of Emma.
James wasn't so sure about the fog from the rootbeer, but he liked the end result.

Emma is a little helper. As soon as we started setting up, she was right there trying to help.

Our ward did a pioneer parade, Emma was so excited to be in a parade. They were supposed to dress up like pioneers, the tutu and green pasta necklace was her idea of what a pioneer wears.

I still have more pictures...I'll try to get them up soon

Emma's 4th Birthday

2010-08-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

These pictures are in random order. Emma wanted to have a Pixie Hollow party. This is the pinata I made for the party. She was so excited to have a pinata.

On her birthday we took her to Brick Oven for some pizza. This is while she was being sung to, I don't think she knew what to do while they were doing it.
But she really enjoyed the ice cream sundae they gave her at the end.
James decided that I needed some help eating my food. He fed me most of my meal...or at least tried to, most of it ended up in my lap.
The barber chair in the lobby of the restaurant

We had her party the day after her birthday. The pictures are pretty much backwards...we did cake last.
James likes cake a lot

Blowing out her candles. She loved the cake I made...which put a smile on my face.

She was so cute about making a wish before she blew out her candles.

Emma was spoiled with presents from our families and friends. It was great to have so many people to help make her day special

Breaking the pinata was fun for the kids...they didn't actually break it...we opened it from the bottom after each kid got a few swings

Geoff was so great and "sacrificed" himself by holding the pinata
Emma and Benjamin playing find the blue moonstone. They all had a lot of fun
We started the party with duck, duck, goose. The kids were funny...they wouldn't sit in a circle, so they sat in a straight line...when someone said goose they all got up to run around. Made us laugh
Geoff wrote this with the sidewalk chalk while he was setting things up for me. What a good daddy!!!
Playing Duck, Duck, Goose.

Emma's party was great. She had a blast with all of her friends and family that came. She is already talking about her next birthday...she asked if we could move it to June, I tried to explain that we couldn't move birthdays and that June was still very far away. She asked if we could move it to August because it's August right now, so it would be her birthday. She's a smart little girl.

More July fun will be coming soon.

We're still having fun

2010-08-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

The kids love having warm weather so we can play in the back yard. I got them a big sprinkler ball, Emma asked if I would put it by the slide so she could have a water slide. They loved playing with it. Our friend Benjamin came over to join in the fun. We love having play dates with him, and his mommy Nicole.
James would always go right off the slide onto his head...but he thought it was great!

This was after the 10k I did for Lehi Round-up Days(it didn't go well). James decided that I needed some grapes while I was stretching. I love when he helps out.
And the grapes actually helped me get some energy back...James can be such a smart kid.
Here he is cheering me on

This race was my worst one so far. I was not prepared for it. It was mostly uphill and it was very very hot! Hopefully things go better for the Half marathon...it's less than 3 weeks away.
Emma fell asleep in the car and after trying to wake her up by making her walk herself in the house, she curled up in a ball and went back to sleep.
This was at the family fun carnival at Lehi Round-up days. The kids had so much fun.
Riding the horses at round up days

Emma rode all by herself, she was so excited to ride the horse.

James and Emma both got these awesome hats at the parade. They also got A LOT of candy, luckily another dentist was passing out toothbrushes, they'll come in handy after all the candy they got.
The Bee's baseball game. As you can see James was loving every minute of it, especially the endless amount of treats.
Emma's cute kissy face

Emma at the parade, staying out of the sun.

More baseball game fun

This is a 50th wedding anniversary cake I made. I was so excited with how it turned out. It is the biggest I've done and probably the most viewed because of the reception they had. The couple I did it for loved it and said it tasted great. I was happy they liked it.

This is a Birthday cake I did for a 3 year old boy. He really liked it. This was the first sculpture type cake I've done. I learned a lot about what to do next time.

Having fun

2010-07-11T17:21:00.000-07:00

I'll apologize now for such a long post, but I am way behind and want to get caught up quick. All of these pictures are from May. The one on top is from Memorial Day, we took the kids to a local park and had a picnic. Emma wanted to fly her kite...she loves doing it and even let James have a turn.
The Saturday before Memorial Day we went to Lagoon. The kids had a blast. It wasn't very busy because it was a little chilly, so the kids got to ride all the rides a bunch of times. James would get excited when he saw another ride and would point to the one he wanted to go on next.

This was at the Bee's game. After the game the kids got to run the bases and then get their picture taken with the bee.

More fun at the park

One of my all time favorite rides growing up was the tilt-a-whirl. There would be a carnival every year and my Grandma Lund would take me on the tilt-a-whirl. It was fun to do that with my Grandma. I wasn't sure Emma would like it, but she loved it. Our cart was spinning like crazy and she was just laughing the whole time.

James loved bulgy! When he see's pictures of Bulgy he gets all excited and starts jabbering and pointing. He had so much fun.

My two favorite boys

We all took the train ride together. The kids loved the train, there are some animals on the ride that they got to see. They thought it was pretty cool.

While at Lagoon we discovered that Emma is a little daredevil. She wanted to go on all the rides. This one is like the rocket, for those of you that are familiar, just a mini version. She laughed the whole time. It was fun to watch her. She wanted to go on all the big roller coasters too, but she's not tall enough, she was kind of disappointed about that.

They thought it was pretty cool to drive the cars.

We went swimming one evening. The kids had a blast, although they are a little bit nervous about the water. (they get that from mom)

James was getting pretty tired.

This is at Emma's preschool program. They each got to make a fun hat.

We took a little road trip to Vegas to see Geoff's cousin and her family. It was a fun, but very short trip. This is right as we were getting ready to leave.

Emma started getting pretty bored within about 10 minutes of the trip.

Emma loved her cousin Brienne. She had fun playing with her.

She thought it was pretty fun to blow on her tummy, and Brienne kind of liked it too.

Chris' parents have a tortoise that made it's home in their backyard, all the kids got to feed it. Emma thought it was pretty awesome.

We tried to take the kids swimming while we were in Vegas, but the water in the pool was ice cold, so we let them put their feet in the hot tub for a few minutes.

James loved the water.

Emma likes to try to take pictures of us. this is probably one of the best one's she's taken. usually she cuts off Geoff's head.

Going down the elevator to get in the pool, the kids were pretty excited.

Emma and I at the temple.

Another picture that Emma took. She's getting better

More fun at Lagoon

James loved the boats.

Family day at my mom's work is always fun. This year we all got our faces painted. James was really good about letting them paint his.

After Emma and James got their faces painted she decided everyone should. So we all got it done.

The last song at Emma's preschool program was a cute song, at the end of each phrase they would sing I love you, and she would point to me. It was so sweet.

Emma loves to sing, and she loves to have people watch her sing. It was fun to see her in the program.

This basically sums up the month of May. I'll try to get June up soon. We are so busy having fun I don't really have time to post everything.

Easter, Cakes and everything in between

2010-05-25T09:20:00.001-07:00

Geoff and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in April. We went and saw train in concert, and if I ever remember to post the pics you will all see them. That next weekend my mom and sister watched the kids for a few days and we took a little trip to Midway. We decided to swim in the crater at the homestead, it was a lot of fun.
This is the view from the water, you actually go through a tunnel in the crater and then get in the water. It's about 90 degrees year round in the water.

We had a lot of fun in the crater. After that we grabbed lunch and went to the outlets in Park City. It was nice to have a little time without the kids and we got to sleep in.

This is a cake I made in April. I wasn't real thrilled with how it turned out. I did it the day after being in a car accident(OUCH!), so I couldn't do things quite as well.

Emma and Benjamin are great friends and they play so good together. This was them at the Easter Egg hunt I planned for all our friends. They both had a blast.

Look at all those eggs, the Easter Bunny really didn't need to come the next day.

Emma and Addy gathering eggs. They are also really great friends.

Emma and James play so good together. Emma is a great big sister and loves to take care of James. Here they are having a tea party.

James thinks he's so big and loves to climb on the furniture and sit like a big kid.

Daddy helping James gather up some eggs.

I think this is about the time he discovered there was stuff in the eggs.

All the kids lining up to get eggs, they were so excited.

James' first peek in to see the eggs, he wasn't really sure what was going on.

James has to do everything Emma does. He refuses to sit in a high chair, he has to have a fork or spoon, he even drinks his milk like she does when he's done with his cereal.

Easter morning at our house. The Easter Bunny brought so many eggs he had to hide them in 2 rooms.

James thought it was more fun just to put the eggs in his basketball hoop.

I love when James tries to play with this ball, it is twice his size.

Each of them got a chocolate bunny, a new notebook, new crayons and some books. we also got the movie Princess and the Frog.

This is another cake I made for St. Patricks Day.

James just loves this ball.

As you can see we have been pretty busy having fun. We are looking forward to a fun, and hopefully sometime soon, warm summer.

preschool program

2010-05-22T10:04:00.000-07:00

Emma started preschool in February this year. She has loved going. I found this great place called My Smart World. It has been fun to see her interact with the kids and teachers. Her main teacher was Miss Megan, she was great with Emma and taught her a lot. They had a program on Thursday to end the year. It was fun to see Emma sing. After the program each child received a blanket with some of the stuff they learned about this year. This is just a little bit of the video from it. We are sad that preschool is over for the year, but for the summer Emma will be taking a music class and a gymnastics class that My Smart World is holding. Hopefully we can get her in some swim lessons too. Hope you enjoy the video, I will get some pics up soon.

A lot of stuff going on

2010-04-11T16:05:00.000-07:00

We have had such a crazy couple of months. I've been trying to take the time to get updated, but never found enough...this is actually condensed.

In March I ran my first 5k, and totally loved it. For those that don't know I am training for a half marathon(13.1 miles). I was a little unprepared, it was cold and rainy, and I'm not used to running in the cold. But I finished. I ended up walking about 1/4 mile so that my lungs could figure out how to work in the cold, but otherwise I ran the whole thing. This picture is at the end...I was struggling near the end, they ran out of water before I got there, and I desperately needed it. I ended up finishing at 40:34, I was pretty happy with that time, especially considering that I had to walk for a little bit. I had fun doing it, and I'm looking for a few more to do before the big race in July or August (I haven't figured out which one I want to do yet).

This is at the beginning...if you can't tell.

The race was at BYU, Emma was so excited to go to BYU, only because she wanted to see Cosmo, and lucky for us he was there, actually there were a few Cosmo's there cheering the runners on through the course.

Here's little James after a Doctor's appt. He had shots that day, and they always give him a sucker afterwards.

Emma started preschool in February. She absolutely loves going and learning and playing with her friends. One day they walked to the fire station and learned about fire trucks. She also will tell you all about fire safety...stop, drop and roll, and my favorite "don't hide, go outside," she says this while shaking her finger at you and has a very serious face.

We have loved having a Winco near us, it's about a 30-40 minute drive there, so we go about once a month a stock up. The best part about Winco is that they have Tillamook ice cream(yum). We have really missed having good ice cream right at our finger tips since we've moved back to Utah.

Emma had her first primary activity, the Winter Olympics...here she is with her Gold medal, which she has now consumed.

For Valentine's Day I sold chocolate dipped strawberries to people in our neighborhood, and quite a few others. It's nice to have a little extra money now and then, and I really enjoy doing stuff like this. I'm doing it again for Mother's Day, so anyone local that reads our blog, let me know if you're interested.

These are some strawberries I did for the family. We all loved them, my favorites were the ones in dark chocolate.

James and Emma really likes them.

Here are some of the ones' I sold. We figured it out and I dipped about 220 throughout the weekend.

James likes to climb in our bins of books and read...he's seen Emma do it and he has to do everything she does.

This is Emma on her first day of preschool, she was so excited.

This is James watching the Super Bowl

For Christmas my parents bought the kids this fun tent...I have to admit I wasn't thrilled about it. But they have absolutely loved playing in it.

We are doing pretty well right now. Emma loves her preschool and her Sunbeams(church) class. She is learning so much and constantly amazes us with her knowledge. She loves to sing, and knows a lot of songs.

James keeps us on our toes. He runs and climbs and likes to get into everything. He has discovered that he can put toys in the potty. We says wow, whoa, huh-uh, and uh-uh, dad, and a few other things.

Christmas did come

2010-02-15T11:03:00.000-08:00

We had a special visitor come to the office for all of our patients.

This is Emma and Addy...Emma loves to play with Addy

James would really like some more cookies, but he's had enough

Emma was so excited to get her own popcorn bowl in her stocking. She loves to watch movies and eat popcorn. Thanks Santa

She was also very excited for the chocolate...mommy has taught her well!

James really wasn't sure what to think about all this.

Emma kept asking for a pink "puter" and a game. She was very excited to get them.

James got pretty good at unwrapping, but by the end of it he just wanted to play with the toys.

Here's the game she got.

Grandma Moultrie picked out this Snow White set for Emma, as you can see she loves it.
Thanks Grandma.

This is what Grandma Moultrie picked out for James, he loves them.

Emma got pictures from the movie princess and the frog, along with movie tickets for the next day.

James is being funny chewing on his new frog towel

My family had tried to surprise me with a Pizzelle maker...I had forgot that I wanted one, and about a week before Christmas I remembered and brought it up...My mom said that it was too late. What I didn't know was that this was first present they bought me. What they didn't know was that their hiding place in an open closet wasn't the best place...although it was wrapped...I could tell what it was. I made 3 batches of pizzelle's on Christmas day... YUM!

We are oh so tired by this point

James got a fun toy from my parents...he loves playing with it

James, Emma and Grandpa playing with Lincoln Logs, I love James' face.

And Emma is out...

And blowing bubbles in her sleep

catching up...we're almost there

2010-01-21T11:50:00.000-08:00

Emma loves to create her own little masterpieces, she had a lot of fun putting this gingerbread house together.

Here are some more pictures after her dance concert, she is quite the little poser.

Here she is "warming up" before her performance

I always joke that we don't need a dog because we have James, and here's the proof, he eats shoes.

James really like helping with the decorations, he mostly like throwing them.

Emma loved decorating the tree, she was constantly rearranging the ornaments once we were done so that she could keep decorating.

The kids loved Santa, James wasn't so sure about him at first, but once he saw Emma with him, he was great about it.

Emma was so excited to see Santa, she jumped right on his lap and told him that she had been a good girl and that she wanted a pink computer and a game.

This is the Christmas countdown that I made for Emma, she absolutely loved it. There was a hershey kiss inside each one.

The kids have had a great few months as you can see. They loved Christmas and everything about it. Emma is starting preschool in a couple of weeks, she is so excited, her teacher will be Miss Megan. James is growing like crazy, and he loves getting into things and getting into trouble. He likes to climb on everything.